As far as Google can tell, Claude Heater is the only living member of the original cast of Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti. Back in 1952, Heater was the baritone in the vocal trio. Today, Heater is 90 and has lively memories of Bernstein and of many other figures in his long and vigorous life.

As BLO has been rehearsing and preparing Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti, we have been getting a lot of feedback, both internally from our staff and artists and externally from our community members, about the pivotal scene that gives the opera its name.

The range of musical styles that Leonard Bernstein worked in is extraordinarily wide—but the range of subjects he engaged with is comparatively narrow, and all of the subjects came out of his own life: love, family, and all the various ties that bind.

Leonard Bernstein's multifaceted musical career, combined with his outspoken involvement in politics and general embrace of public life, made him into a person who seemed inseparable from the broader context in which he lived and worked.

We have looked at and listened to some relatively straightforward renditions of the insidiously persuasive strains of “Mackie Messer,” or “Mack the Knife.” Here are some others--from the bizarre to the campy!